Delhi:5 Day Goden Triangle Tour & Ranthambhore Tiger Safari

The triangle, with two chances at a tiger

Ranthambore sits between Agra and Jaipur, so adding it costs a night rather than a detour. Two safaris rather than one is what makes this version worth booking — sightings are a matter of probability, and doubling the attempts roughly doubles your odds.

Day 1: Delhi, then Agra

Qutub Minar, begun 1193, the tallest brick minaret in the world. Humayun's Tomb from the 1560s, the Mughal garden tomb the Taj descends from. India Gate and Parliament from the car. Lotus Temple or Bangla Sahib, depending on the day and the traffic.

Then the expressway to Agra, about three and a half hours.

Day 2: Agra

The Taj Mahal at sunrise — grey to pink to white as the sun clears the far bank, with a fraction of the mid-morning crowd. Then Agra Fort, and the Musamman Burj where Shah Jahan spent his last eight years as his son's prisoner looking at his wife's tomb along the river.

Fatehpur Sikri on the road out: Akbar's capital of 1571, abandoned after fourteen years, still standing complete.

Day 3: Ranthambore

Afternoon safari on arrival. The park covers 1,300 square kilometres of dry forest with around seventy tigers, and the animals here are habituated to vehicles, which is why it is the best tiger park in north India.

Day 4: second safari, then Jaipur

Morning safari — the better of the two for sightings — then the drive north.

Day 5: Jaipur

Amber Fort, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal, then back to Delhi.

Practical

Safari zones and permits are allocated by the forest department; nobody chooses their zone, including us.

Ranthambore closes 1 July to 30 September. October to April is the season; March and April give the best sightings as the water dries up. Winter mornings in an open vehicle are genuinely cold.

The Taj is closed on Fridays, which sets the ordering of the first days.